Last-minute donations launch Medway fireworks show

MEDWAY, Maine — Some timely donations and a discounted price have made the town fireworks show on Saturday a go, an organizer said Friday.

The fireworks company, Central Maine Pyrotechnics, Inc. of Hallowell, offered to cut its price to $1,500 from $3,000 and East Mill Metal and Salvage Inc. led late contributors with a $250 donation, organizer Barry Davis said.

After warning last week that the show might not occur due to the lack of funds, organizers decided on Wednesday that they had enough money to proceed.

“We have about $1,500 raised for it. We hope to raise a little more and to give it to them but we really appreciate them doing it for that kind of price,” Davis said Friday.

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The fireworks show is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. Aug. 13, with viewers encouraged to gather at or near the Roy Powers Recreation Area on Route 157 and the Penobscot River.

The show will come after the Wooden Arts Canoe Festival, a daylong event set for Aug. 13 that usually draws about 1,000 people. Now in its 15th year, the free event highlights the region’s outdoor and canoe-making heritage.

The town usually pays for the fireworks show, but with town budgets tight, town leaders didn’t even mention budgeting the cost during the town’s annual meeting. Davis and a small group of other Medway residents took up fundraising for the show in response.

A similar donation from Central Maine Pyrotechnics allowed East Millinocket’s fireworks show to go forward this year, said that town’s administrative assistant, Shirley Tapley.

“It would not have happened here if they didn’t offer,” Tapley said Friday. “We didn’t even have to ask.”

Organizers have been raising money selling raffle tickets and have several prizes donated by local businesses.